How to Download Music From the Internet to Your MP3 Player

MP3 files should only be downloaded from legal, reputable sources.

You can download music from the Internet from a variety of different sources and vendors, and store it on your computer as a digital audio file. The most popular digital audio file type is MP3, which applies compression techniques to the music signals to reduce file sizes. This allows you to store far more music on an MP3 player than would otherwise be possible with uncompressed audio files. Once downloaded, you can transfer MP3 files to your player via USB cable.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Compatible USB cable

1. Connect your MP3 player to your computer using a compatible USB cable. Your computer will recognize the MP3 player as a mass storage device and create an icon for it in "My Computer." If you have a specialized MP3 player that is not recognized as a mass storage device, install its driver software to allow your computer to browse its files and folders. Driver software is available from the manufacturer's website or on a bundled disk supplied with the player.

2. Launch your computer's Web browser and navigate to an online music vendor such as Napster.com, Amazon.com or eMusic.com. Browse through the categories or use the search function to locate a song you want to download to your MP3 player.

3. Click a song in the search results or category library to open its full listing page.

4. Click the "Buy" button and follow the website's instructions to pay for the MP3 file using a credit or debit card, or an online payment system such as PayPal. Click the "Download" button if downloading doesn't begin automatically once payment has been accepted.

5. Navigate to "My Computer" in the "Save As" dialog box that appears when the MP3 file is ready to be downloaded to your MP3 player. Click the icon for your MP3 player to open it.

6. Click the "Save" button to download the music directly to your MP3 player.

Tips & Warnings

• Open your MP3 player's folder on your computer and click the "New Folder" button if you want to save the MP3 file to a specific location on the player. This can be useful for creating your own albums on the MP3 player.

• Copy and paste the music file to your computer as a backup, in case anything should happen to your MP3 player.

• Ensure there is enough space remaining on the MP3 player before initiating a download directly to the device.

References

• Techlore; How to Transfer Music Onto a Portable MP3 Player; Ron Repking; December 2004
• Videojug: How to Download Music Onto an MP3 Player
• CNET; Top 5 Online Music Stores; Jasmine France; July 2008

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Amazon.com: Amazon MP3
• Napster
• eMusic